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Jehovah’s Witnesses must pay $34M to abuse survivor

Matt Volz, Associated Press
Published 1:09 p.m. ET Sept. 27, 2018

In this Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015, file photo, the iconic Watchtower sign is seen on the roof of 25-30 Columbia Heights, then world headquarters of the Jehovah's Witnesses, in Brooklyn. Two women who were sexually abused as children say the Jehovah's Witnesses failed to report their abuser to authorities in Montana, and instead expelled him from the congregation as punishment until he repented. The Thompson Falls trial that begins Monday, Sept. 24, 2018, is one of dozens of lawsuits filed nationwide over the last decade alleging mismanagement of sexual abuse claims by Jehovah's Witness clergy and members.(Photo: Seth Wenig / AP, file)

Helena, Mont. – A Montana jury has ruled that the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization must pay $34 million to a woman who says the church covered up her sexual abuse as a child at the hands of a congregation member.

Neil Smith, an attorney representing the 32-year-old woman, says the jury’s verdict Wednesday in the lawsuit sends a message to the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ New York headquarters to stop prioritizing church secrecy over children’s safety.

Jehovah’s Witness officials did not immediately respond to a call or email for comment. The monetary award must be reviewed by the trial judge.

The jury dismissed claims by a second woman who alleged abuse by the same man in Thompson Falls in the 1990s.

The jury concluded church elders did not receive notice of the second woman’s abuse and therefore did not have a duty to tell authorities.

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